Honda Motors Europe and Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam launch the new Honda Insight Hybrid campaign. The integrated campaign marks the first work for Honda from W+K Amsterdam and is the first in a series of products being advertised under Honda’s new environmental brand platform. ‘Everyone Wants to Be Good’ is set to break across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia throughout April.
The campaign will launch the Honda Insight Hybrid, which represents the first step in establishing a strong and accessible messaging platform for future environmental product initiatives for Honda. Tapping into a core Honda philosophy that ‘human nature is fundamentally good’, the Insight features the Honda Eco Assist coaching system which helps people drive more efficiently while the Insight campaign touts the line ‘Everyone Wants to Be Good.’
Chris Brown, Head of Marketing for Honda Motor Europe' ‘‘we would like to become the most admired company in the world, and to do this we need to have the most admired brand and communications across our region, EMEAR. This is a continuation of our journey.”
Executive Creative Director Jeff Kling continues, “People want to be good and, given the chance, will choose to do good. Honda has given more people the chance to be good by creating an affordable hybrid.”
The ‘Let It Shine’ :60 TV spot, directed by Erik van Wyk and produced by Bouffant, will begin with what appears to be the world’s largest LED screen displaying an animated sequence of simple iconographic stories that depict ‘good’. The animations will show hugs and kisses, frowns turned into smiles, and general good will, which is all meant to convey people’s inherent wish to be good. As the animation plays it is slowly revealed to the viewer that it is actually being created entirely by hundreds of Insight vehicle headlights being operated by their drivers. The entire spectacle is set to a bespoke recorded version of ‘This Little Light of Mine’ created by Berend Dubbe.
The physical production of the spot was an extreme exercise in mathematical theory. “We first set out to see if it could be done with all real cars,” says Executive Creative Director John Norman. “It was incredible to see the amount of research that went into what it would take to create an actual vehicle grid of that scale. The camera distance, types of lenses needed, and the actual height of the camera were all variables that affected each other and just about everything else. It was an awe inspiring process.”
In the end, although the team discovered that the idea was logistically feasible, they were concerned about the carbon footprint that a shoot of that magnitude would leave. After doing the work to see what was possible W+K and Honda made a conscious decision to look at a more environmentally friendly alternative. The result was a fusion of Houdini 3-D modelling software for animation precision, a small number of Insight vehicles for scale and a few hundred Insight headlights. The vehicles and headlights were precisely spaced and wired together while a specially created computer program created the two separate halves of the animations. These animation halves were subsequently married together in post-production.
This approach allowed the team to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of the shoot. To further limit carbon output they relied on vehicles already located in South Africa, grouped shipments of props and lights as much as possible, and mandated group transportation of personnel to and from shoot. For further good measure, the shoot’s carbon output that could not be prevented was entirely offset through carbon credits purchased through the Carbon-Neutral Company’s Unity Portfolio. The Unity Portfolio focuses on resource conservation, such as methane capturing and transitioning companies to less carbon intensive fuel sources, in industrial regions throughout the world.
In addition to TV, the campaign is also launching with print, OOH and digital. The theme “Everyone Wants to Be Good” is incorporated across the board as well as the iconic ‘Honda Eco’ flower, an integral part of the Honda Insight’s coaching system that rewards good driving.
The campaign also marks a shift in approach for environmental advertising. Honda and Wieden+Kennedy made a forward-thinking decision to abandon the use of the colour green in favour of purples, oranges and yellows. The choice to not use green was made to give the campaign standout but also to steer clear of the typical heavy handed ‘green washing’ that is commonly found in the environmental advertising space.
The integrated campaign of TV, print, and digital was written by Zach Watkins, art directed by Craig Melchiano and Mark Sloan, and creative directed by Jeff Kling, John Norman, and Sue Anderson, is meant to reinforce Honda’s position as a leader in automotive hybrid technology.